Uttar Pradesh v Haryana: Hosts Reach the Jhansi Final After a Shootout Classic

Correction (21 October): This preview, written off an early semi-final report, hadUttar Pradesh in the final. Hockey India’s official report says Madhya Pradesh beat UP 5-3 in the semi — the final was Haryana v Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana won it 2-1. Read the final report.

Punjab are the defending champions at India’s Senior Nationals. On Wednesday they’ll be playing for bronze.

That’s the size of what happened in Jhansi on Monday. The semi-finals of the 16th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship served up one tight, nervy game and one absolute classic, and by the end of it the final was set: hosts Uttar Pradesh against Haryana, at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium, with the whole city behind one of them.

The shootout that decided it

Haryana and Punjab don’t do quiet games, and this one finished 3-3 after four quarters of trading blows. Reports from Jhansi say the shootout went Haryana’s way, 4-2, Punjab’s title defence dying on the spot. Losing a semi on a shootout hurts. Losing it to Haryana, after leading the tournament as champions, hurts more.

The second semi was the opposite kind of drama. One goal.Uttar Pradesh beat Madhya Pradesh 1-0 in front of their own crowd, and sometimes 1-0 is the loudest scoreline in hockey. A clean sheet in a national semi-final, at home, with a final two days away. The hosts won’t care how it looked.

Hockey India’s own reporting had already confirmed the four semi-finalists after Sunday’s quarter-finals, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, so the cast was no surprise. The order they finished in was.

Wednesday is the day that counts

There’s a rest day on Tuesday, then it all lands on Wednesday 21 October in Jhansi. Punjab and Madhya Pradesh play the bronze-medal match first, at 11:00 am IST (10:30 am PKT). The final follows at 3:00 pm IST, which is 2:30 pm PKT:Uttar Pradesh v Haryana for the national title.

Reports say the knockout matches are streaming on FanCode, with score updates on Hockey India’s official channels.

Our take

Home advantage in a one-off final is real, and Uttar Pradesh have the crowd, the momentum and a defence that just blanked Madhya Pradesh. But Haryana have already survived the harder night. A team that wins a 3-3 shootout semi against the defending champions has stared at the worst moment in domestic hockey and not blinked. For our money, this one’s a coin toss that lands on whoever scores first.

Twenty-nine teams started this championship across three divisions on 10 October. Two are left. Jhansi gets the final it would have picked for itself.